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February 2016

Welcome to our New Hampshire primary liveblog. We'll be updating periodically, so be sure to refresh your browser for the latest news. If you're just joining us, check out our previous open thread for the shenanigans you may have missed today. Trump and Sanders quickly declared winners. WAJ very quick assessment:
Get ready for Team Hillary to play the race card on Bernie -- exploiting the tensions between white liberals and Black Lives Matter. She will pander like she's never pandered before. On the Republican side, too many survived for any one of them to mount an immediate challege to Trump. Chris Christie committed murder-suicide in taking down Rubio at the last debate without helping himself. Jeb will keep going because he's so emotionally invested in it - pride comes before a fall. Politico obtained Jeb's post-NH strategy memo - Bush plans scorched-earth attack on Kasich, Rubio. Kasich will be a one-hit wonder. Cruz is the most viable challenger to Trump.
As of just after midnight and 80% reporting, here is the count:

It is too bad for the Clintons that the Internet can travel back nearly 20 years! Feminist icons spent the weekend shaming women into voting for Hillary Clinton. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, even smeared supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders as sexist trolls. But video taken 20 years ago show that Vermont's socialist representative was made an "honorary woman" by feminist luminary Gloria Steinem herself. (Jump ahead to 15:44)
[I]n 1996 the famous feminist traveled to Burlington, VT to endorse him (OVER his female opponent) in what was a tough re-election fight against Republican Susan Sweetser.

During the MSNBC Democratic debate, Chuck Todd asked if Hillary would release the transcripts of her paid speeches, particularly the three Goldman Sachs speeches for which she was paid $675,000 total. As the question was being asked, you could see Hillary's mental wheels spinning until she came up with the response she needed: I'll think about it. Hillary then quickly moved on to her robotic stump speech: After that awkward moment, Hillary deflected in classic Clintonian fashion, by setting preconditions she knew no one could or would meet -- everyone who ever gave a speech had to release all transcripts for all speeches. Hence, Hillary deflects from her massive Wall Street speaking fees:

Welcome to our New Hampshire Primary open thread! Thanks for stopping by. We'll be updating with well, updates, headlines and other sundry news, but most importantly -- things that make me laugh. Be sure to refresh your browser tab frequently for the latest. I'll be manning the thread all evening. Have questions? Put them in the comment section and I'll do my best to answer. Polls close at 7:00 PM ET in most of the state. But in 20 some-odd communities, polls will close at 8:00 PM ET. We'll cover reaction and results as they trickle in, but in a separate post.

FLASH POLL: Which Republican is MOST LIKELY to DROP OUT after New Hampshire?

This is probably my favorite thing on the internet right now. Two dudes wearing "Settle for Hillary" t-shirts sat right behind the embattled Democratic candidate at a town hall event in New Hampshire. Aaaaaannnd no one seemed to notice.

On Saturday, Madeleine Albright introduced Hillary Clinton at an event in New Hampshire, telling the crowd: “There is a special place in hell” for women who do not support Clinton. Madeleine Albright (78) served as Secretary of State under the Clinton Administration, the same administration that gave us the now-defunct nuclear deal with North Korea. Finalized in 1994, Clinton's deal was used by the Communist Regime as a cover to build a nuclear bomb. At the time, President Bill Clinton called it "a good deal for the United States", ensuring that "North Korea will freeze and then dismantle its nuclear program. South Korea and our other allies will be better protected. The entire world will be safer as we slow the spread of nuclear weapons." Fast forward to 2016; North Korea ushers in the New Year with blasting a 20-50 megaton Hydrogen Bomb and than last week tops it with launched a dual-use ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. soil. The test that North Korea wants to sell the world as a satellite launch, is just another leap for communist regime towards a inter-continental nuclear-weapon delivery system.

Obama now says that there is no reason to panic over a virus that has been linked to an outbreaks in birth defects in South America:
President Obama is asking people not to panic about the Zika virus. "The good news is this is not like Ebola, people don't die of Zika — a lot of people get it and don't even know that they have it," the president said in an interview with Gayle King that aired Monday on "CBS This Morning."
While I agree panic is unwarranted, concern is not...especially after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that its emergency operations center has been put on a “Level 1” status. The President is also asking for $1.8 billion in funding for the resources to combat the disease.

Despite studies that clearly demonstrate that women underperform and cause their entire unit to underperform in combat training, the left still seems enamored of the idea that women should be forced upon the military in these combat positions.  Indeed, now all branches of the military, including special ops, are required to accept women. The next obvious step is selective service.  If men are required by federal law to register for selective service at age eighteen, why not all women?  This is going to be a problem for the femisogynist left who really only wanted that whole equality thing to go so far.  Now, they are faced with the logical consequences of their politically correct nonsense. Army and Marine Corps chiefs have already stated that it's time to register women for selective service, so this opens a new can of worms for the progressive left.  While I couldn't find push back from progressives yet, it will come. Now, though, they are focusing on Ted Cruz who rightly argues that it is "nuts" to draft women into the military because this now includes combat positions. The Wall Street Journal reports:
Ted Cruz said Sunday a proposal to include women in the Selective Service registration was a product of out of control political correctness and warned against putting a woman soldier near a dangerous “psychopath” in a combat situation.

Whenever Obama is asked about his strategy to fight ISIS, he brags of the 66 nation coalition he's put together to fight the terror group. Unfortunately, that's not entirely accurate. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, sometimes referred to in conservative circles as President Ash Carter for dealing with real problems while Obama does puff interviews with YouTube personalities, is now complaining that our coalition partners aren't stepping up to the fight. The Salt Lake Tribune reports:
U.S. calls on slackers to do more in Islamic State war To doubters of its strategy for defeating the Islamic State, the Obama administration likes to tout its coalition of 66 nations and claim strength in numbers. But a year and a half into the war, some administration officials are acknowledging that this supposed source of strength has its own weaknesses.

Former Nanny Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made a public statement indicating he is considering running for President. This represents a slight elevation of speculation and posturing. The NY Times reports:

Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, confirmed in an interview with The Financial Times that he was actively weighing an independent campaign for president in 2016.

Mr. Bloomberg said he was “looking at all the options” in the election and lamented the state of the race. “I find the level of discourse and discussion distressingly banal and an outrage and an insult to the voters,” Mr. Bloomberg told the paper.

The comments are Mr. Bloomberg’s first public expression of interest in the presidential race, but aides acting on his instructions have already drawn up detailed plans for a possible campaign.

During Saturday night's NH GOP debate, Marco Rubio was asked how he planned to tackle social issues with millennial voters, in particular issues of life and marriage. Rubio discussed abortion as a two-fold issue -- one dealing with women's rights and the other with the right to life. "I've chosen to err on the side of life," he said. Hillary Clinton's stance on abortion was pulled into his answer as Rubio called her views "extreme."

No one is happy. Not Bill. Not Hillary. Not the Democrats. No one. Apparently. This afternoon Politico that the Clinton campaign is considering a substantial staffing shakeup following what looks to be a loss in tomorrow's New Hampshire's primary.
Hillary and Bill Clinton are so dissatisfied with their campaign’s messaging and digital operations they are considering staffing and strategy changes after what’s expected to be a loss in Tuesday’s primary here, according to a half-dozen people with direct knowledge of the situation. The Clintons -- stung by her narrow victory in Iowa -- had been planning to reassess staffing at the campaign’s Brooklyn headquarters after the first four primaries, but the Clintons have become increasingly caustic in their criticism of aides and demanded the reassessment sooner, a source told POLITICO.

When will Florida Man ever learn? Apparently, never. In Pensacola, Florida, suspect, Jarell Blackmon used a fake pistol to rob a food mart. He cleaned out the cash register and made off with ten cartons of cigarettes before the cashier used a real gun to shoot him. The Pensacola News Journal reported:
A Pensacola man robbed a Beacon food mart store early this morning using a fake pistol. According to a press release from the Pensacola Police Department, the suspect, Jarell Blackmon, 24, entered the store at 1101 W. Cervantes Street at 2:25 a.m., wearing camouflage, at hat and a bandana over his face. The clerk said he told the suspect to remove the bandana, but he refused. Blackmon then came behind the counter and pulled out a pistol which the cashier assumed to be real.

Bernie Sanders gave a glimpse at his potential foreign policy on Sunday, and his choices of BDS supporter James Zogby and left-wing J Street raise serious questions. Sanders, the Jewish Senator from Vermont, is infamous for his avowed socialism.  On foreign policy, he is more or less a blank slate, making his choice of foreign policy advisers a valuable window into his mindsight and the least-worst predictor of a President Sanders's policy. On Sunday, two of the three advisers Sanders chose to identify were vehemently anti-Israel.  Sanders told Meet The Press he met recently with Larry Korb, Jim Zogby and J Street.

Do you believe a wild-haired socialist is our only hope for a better America? Would you like a permanent reminder of the 2016 dumpster fire of an election cycle? Then this little ink shop in Vermont has got you covered. You too can be like dozens of others who have opted to feel the bern forever.

Once again, Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, is mired in controversy regarding anti-Israel activities on campus involving Vassar faculty. The controversy surrounds the February 3, 2016, appearance of Rutgers Associate Professor Jasbir Puar at the invitation of several Vassar departments, including Jewish Studies. At the outset of the appearance, according to the Vassar alumni/parent/friends group Fairness to Israel (FTI), a request was made by the Vassar professor introducing the speaker not to record the event, although it was acknowledged that it was legal to do so:
Before I give my brief remarks, I would like to request that you silence your devices you brought with you so as not to disrupt the conversation with Professor Puar is conducting with us today. I would also like to request on her behalf and on behalf of the rest of the assembly that you refrain from recording this evening’s proceedings, in the spirit of congeniality and mutual respect, though it is not against the law, to record someone vocation professional labor without informing them, it is quite unseemly and violates the modest contract of trust essential to the exchange of ideas.
Requesting non-recording of an open, public event on the pretext that non-recording is "essential to the exchange of ideas" is odd.